Ah Alice!
by LongWinded1928
Summary: Set in the modern day, 16 year old Alice is knocked down by a car and finds herself in a strange place, as she desperately tries to get home she discovers that they aren't as nice as they seem. Where is this place? And, Will she get out alive?


Ah Alice!

Alice Kingsleigh aged 16, is knocked down while out with friends and awakes to find herself in a strange world, she spots what looks like a human ahead in the distance, and decides to follow him, she follows him into a tunnel only to get half down and then realise that it's not an ordinary tunnel but it is in fact a rabbit hole, and the 'human' is actually a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat she turns to go back the way she came only to find it has closed behind her, giving her no choice but to carry on going forward, she can't see the white rabbit anymore and so calls out to him and gets no answer, so she runs to catch up with him but he's disappeared. She reaches the end of the rabbit hole and spots a door and hesitates for a few seconds before opening it, to find herself in a large room with one large door and one small door, there's a table with a key and a bottle with a 'DRINK ME' label on it. She tries the key in the large door but it's miles too small, she lies on her stomach and places the key in the small lock and is amazed to find it fits and unlocks it, through which she can see a beautiful garden, she decides that if she's going to get help that's where she must go, she then realises that she's far too big to fit through the door, thinking that she's probably going to die before help arrives and assumes that the liquid in the bottle is poison, and so decides that if she's going to die then it will be on her terms and so walks over to the table and drinks the contents of the bottle, thinking it would kill her, but to her amazement it doesn't, instead of killing her, it makes her shrink down to only a few inches tall, short enough now to fit through the door. She rushes over to the door and is about to open it when the white rabbit runs in shouting at her

"NO! NO! NO! You're doing it all wrong! You're supposed to forget the key, then you've have to eat the biscuit that makes you too large/almost squashed in the room, then you start crying and I rush in drop my gloves and fan, which magically appear on your hands and makes you shrink down in size again, so that you can it through the door!" Alice looks at him confused and in horror then says "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, who'd be so stupid as to fall for that?"

"Every other Alice that's been here before you!" said the White Rabbit sharply

"So from now on, you stick to our script!" he adds just as sharply, he's about to leave when Alice stops him

"Like hell I will! Where's my cell phone? Where's my friends? My parents? How do I get home?" she shouts a mixture of anger and panic

"You're what? What's a cell phone? Actually I don't care, it doesn't matter, like I said 'from now on you stick to our script'" he replies, he's about to leave and looks at his pocket watch first "Now look what you've done, The Duchess will be mad if I'm late!" he says before running out.

"Ugh! Whatever I'll get out of here without his help!" she says to herself, she opens the small door in steps through it to discover that garden is further away than it first appeared, as she finds that she's in some sort of library, she turns to go back through the door, only to find that it has closed and locked itself.

She looks around her for an way out and spots what looks like a strange mouse walking ahead and runs after him shouting "Excuse me Mr Mouse? Mr Mouse!?"

"I must be completely insane to be shouting after a mouse! Wait he's stopped! That's strange – he seems to have heard me! Now I know I'm crazy, that car must sent me round the twist when it hit me!"she thinks to herself as she approaches the mouse

"How do you know my name young lady?" asks a surprised Mr Mouse

"A lucky guess, considering you look like a mouse!" she says stating the obvious

"Oh yes I do, don't I? Can I help you?" he asks

"Can you help here?" Alice replies

"Sorry but I can't Miss"

"Can't or wont!?" snaps Alice

"Cant – I only know the systems, I'm so sorry!" say Mr Mouse apologetic

"Oh what I shall I do now?" a worried Alice asks

"You could always come and listen to my lecture" relies Mr Mouse

"Your lecture?" says Alice unconvinced, causing Mr Mouse to burst into song "Yes – for I am an English Lecturer, the most famous of my time, because I stick to the same old words and never change a line! No I never change a li-ine!"

Alice laughs and says "Okay sir I shall come to your lecturer"

Mr Mouse smiles and says "Great follow me!", they walk into his lecture area – which is just part of the library, and the seats are just books lying on their side, Alice sits down with the rest of the audience, just as Mr Mouse is about to start talking she hears a mumbling and rustling from behind her, she turns round and sees it is the White Rabbit, so quietly and slowly so as not to draw attention to herself she leaves the audience and runs after him

"White Rabbit! Mr White Rabbit!" she calls out sharply, the white rabbit stops and turns to look at her "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes of course I'm talking to you! How do I get out of here? Alice snaps.

"What makes you think my name is White Rabbit?" says the White Rabbit outraged.

"You're a rabbit and your white!" she says stating the obvious

"Well no, it's not! I have a name – it's Frederick. Frederick Rabbit!" He says insulted.

"Well Frederick, I'm sorry, I never meant to offend you, it didn't occur to me that you'd have a name! Would you please point me in the direction of how to get out of here?" an apologetic Alice pleads

"Well since you have made me late, you can make yourself useful and run to my house and fetch me my fan and gloves" he says while running off shouting to himself "Oh my The Duchess will have me beheaded for this!"

Confused and bewildered – Alice doesn't know what to do, then she spots a book called Frederick Rabbit's House, in disbelieve she walks over to it -

"No way! It can't be... " she says opening the book, then like the pictures in a pop up book the W.R's house appears

"He lives in a book!? No one is ever going to believe this..." she says thinking for a few minutes, then she loudly says "Phone! He'll have a phone! I could call for help and get the hell out of this place!", so as fast as she can, she climbs up onto the page and runs up the garden path, she pauses for a second and looks behind her, to see that the library and Mr Mouse have disappeared and a forest is in it's place. She rushes into the house the house and to her horror there's no phone, just a table with his gloves and fans on top, and an antique looking chair, "No phone! How can anyone live without a phone!?" she says panicking, she thinks for a few seconds then says "unless he doesn't know what a phone is? He didn't seem to know when I asked!"

She looks around for a second then walks over to the table, when something catches her eye – she looks over to where a mirror is hanging on the wall with a shelve under it, on top of which is a unmarked bottle on it, it seems to twinkle as if to beckon Alice over to drink from it, Alice thinks for a minute then says "The script!? Yeah well I'm not following it" she says before turning towards the door and leaving heading into the woods.

A short while later, Frederick Rabbit returns home, he pushes hard on his door expecting it to be blocked Alice's enormous hand, yet to his shock he falls inwards as it's empty, he stands up dusts himself off and starts to frantically shout on his gardener

"PAT! PAT!"

"I'm here your honour, I was just digging for apples" shouts Pat, his turtle/humanoid gardener walking into the house.

"Pat what is missing from this room?"

A confused Pat looks around the room "Ah don't tell me I'll figure it out – is it a chair?"

"No!"

"Was there another table in this room?"

"No there was not Pat! It's Alice! Alice is missing!" shouts Frederick in frustration.

"Oh I am sorry your honour! Who's Alice?" he says thinking for a minute,

"Alice! Oh come on Pat, you should know by now, there's been a few Alices' through here in the past. She's meant to drink the potion and grow gigantic, and be unable to get out, until we throw stones at her that then turn into little bite sized cakes, that when eaten shrinks her down to our size again!"

"Oh yeah I remember now your honour – I wonder why she isn't here then?"

"Because she obviously never drank the potion. Oh Pat do you ever think!?"

"No not thinkers, drinkers maybe but definitely not thinkers" says Pat not realising that's not good thing

"Oh that girl,`why won't she just stick to the script, like the others! Oh my fur and whiskers look at the time The Duchess will be waiting on me, I can not go running after that silly girl!" Shouts Frederick running off.

Back in the forest with Alice and she stumbles across a caterpillar/humanoid sitting on top of a mushroom smoking some kind of hallucinogenic from a pipe,

"Seriously a stoner caterpillar!?" says Alice walking forward to take a closer look, she stands perfectly still just staring, when suddenly the caterpillar speaks and gives her the fright of her life

"Major Caterpillar of the Queen's Army here, and you are?" he booms, Alice jumps backwards with fright then says

"Oh I'm sorry to stare - I'm Alice It's just I've never seen a... a... she hesitates as she doesn't want to offend

"Major?" The caterpillar says

"Yes that's the word – Major! Tell me Major, can you help me find the way out of here? So far the only person I've met who knows is Frederick Rabbit and he refuses to tell me!" pleads Alice

"Yea he does like to stick to the rules does Frederick! But if you go left you should find what you need! Also please take a piece from each side of my mushroom, one side makes you taller, the other makes you shorter" he says puffing on his pipe more

"Why would I want that?" says Alice deeply confused

"That wont help me get out of here – will it?"

"I honestly don't know, I just give it to people when they pass by in case it helps" Alice hesitates for a second then break a piece of each side and then turns to the Major

"What piece does what?"

"I can't remember, but don't forget – it's left!" says the Major before turning into a butterfly and flying away.

Alice decides to try a piece of one of them to see if they really work, and to her amazement she starts to grow taller, now a bit taller we see that the "forest" is in fact a shrub, remembering what the Major said – she walks to the let, towards a big blue house,

"Thank goodness someone is finally helping me, that looks like a respectable house, I hope they can help me out of here, or point in the direction of that big beautiful posh looking house and garden – their bound to have a phone!" thinks Alice as she walks towards it, just ahead she spots fish/humanoid butler handing a white envelope to the frog/humanoid butler of big blue house's owner, she isn't close enough to hear what is said, but it all looks very official. She passes the fish/humanoid butler and watches as the frog/humanoid butler sits on an outside stool, she walks past him and walks up to the door and rings the bell, she can hear shouting and crashing noises coming from inside, but no one answers

"No good you knocking" comes a deep voice from behind her, A startled Alice turns around and says "Why not!?"

"Two good reasons – first, I'm on the same of the door as you, and second, they're making so much noise inside, they can't hear you!"

"But how am I going to get inside? I need their help" says Alice

"If you were inside and rang the bell I could open the door and let you out" says the butler, almost talking to himself as much as talking to Alice.

"Well that's no use" says Alice sharply , she then stops and thinks for a minute -

"Wait do you mean it's unlocked?" The butler just nods in agreement, Alice thinks for a second then just turns the knob and opens the door and walks into the house, she comes to a door and opens it a door to find that it's the kitchen, and the cook inside is throwing pepper about the room and adding it to the large pot boiling on the stove, as well as occasionally throwing plates and pots across the room too.

She spots a woman sitting cradling her inconsolable baby boy, who seems to have a cold as he keep sneezing.

Before she can ask for help she notices the owner's cat sitting high up on shelve grinning at her

"Excuse me but why is your cat grinning at me like that?"she asks as politely as she can

"He's a Cheshire cat, they always grin! Who are you little girl – I'm The Duchess!"

"I'm Alice ma'am" she replies while trying and failing to curtsy

"What do you want?" says The Duchess sharply

"I wonder if you could help me get home, or point me in the direction of someone who can? Someone with a phone maybe?" Says Alice sternly but not rudely

The Duchess and the Cook look at her confused, then look at each other for a few seconds

"A phone? What is a phone? I've never heard of such a thing!" replies The Duchess

"Oh surely you know what a phone is – it's for making phone calls, especially after you've been hit by a car and find yourself in this insane place where no one is willing to help you get home!" says a frustrated Alice

"I'm sorry but none of that made sense – what is a car?" said The Duchess as confused as ever

Alice lets out a frustrated scream before storming out of the house.

"I thought you wanted to go in?" call the butler as she passes him

"Yes well I've been in and now I've come out again!" is all she can say as she keeps walking away.

"What is it with this place – talking animals! Crazy people and phones and cars don't exist!" she snaps to herself as she continues walking, she finds herself walking through the a forest, she is greeted at the other end by two fat, simple men who are grinning at her just like the Cheshire cat did, they talk like children and they talk about Alice as if she can't hear them.

"It's her Tweedle Dee look!" says the first one

"It sure looks like her Tweedle Dum" the other replies in the same monotone voice as his brother

"What do we do – we shake hands and introduce ourselves" Tweedle Dum says

They look at each other for a few seconds then they both quickly turn to Alice, making her feel uncomfortable, but before they can say anything, Alice starts to walk past them, she speeds up as she is creeped out by her out "I don't think so... freaks!" she thinks to herself.

"She's walking away Tweedle Dum" says Tweedle Dee a mixture of upset and shocked

"I can see that Tweedle Dee"

"What do to she's not staying to talk to us!"

"Frederick won't like this, she's not following the rules! Tweedle Dee"

"He'll blame us Tweedle Dee!" says Tweedle Dum panicking

"He'll blame you! You never stopped her!" Tweedle Dee snaps

"Me? It wasn't my job! It was yours, you're 3 minutes older!" Tweedle Dum snaps

"You're older Tweedle Dum, so it's your job!" snaps Tweedle Dee

The Tweedles' argument continues until they agree that the only way to settle it is to battle, so they put on their battle clothes and charge at each other, but before they could meet in the middle, they fall asleep and end up a snoring mess on the ground.

Meanwhile Alice is back in the forest, when she comes to a crossroads, she hesitates for a second on which way to go, until the Cheshire cat appears in a nearby tree grinning at her.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this" she thinks before taking a sharp deep breath and walks over to the Cheshire cat "Excuse me Cheshire cat can you help me get out of here?"

"Well that depends – do you mean out of the forest or out of Wonderland?" says the Cheshire cat

"Wonderland?" asks Alice confused

"Well, you didn't think this place didn't have a name, did you?" replies Cheshire cat in a patronizing way

"Well I want to get out of Wonderland, as you call it! Please!" replies Alice sounding tired, fed up and almost ready to cry,

"Oh well Frederick won't like that" says Cheshire cat

"I honestly don't care about what he will or won't like! Who made him boss!" snaps Alice

"That was the Queen of Hearts, since this is his game and you are the star attraction" says Cheshire cat

"Game? What do you mean game? What kind of game?" says a shocked Alice

"It's a game to sort of test your character, but it could also be a fitness test, with the amount of walking you have to do, It's hard to describe really!" replies Cheshire cat, very a matter of fact

"Well I'm not playing his stupid games! How do I get out of here?" snaps Alice

"Well just follow my pointed paw!" says Cheshire cat before he then disappears.

Alice hesitates and says to herself "How do I know that cat didn't just point in direction he was meant to send me?"

She starts to walk down one of the other paths, when Cheshire cat appears again

"Say, would you like to meet The Mad Hatter and his best friend The March Hare, they'll be at their tea now!?"

"Well of course I wouldn't!" bites Alice

"Well why are you walking this way instead of the way I pointed?" says Cheshire cat with a sadistic grin, feeling a little embarrassed Alice says nothing

"You don't trust me!?" says Cheshire cat shocked

"No not really – how was I to know if you are telling me the truth or not!" says Alice sharply

"If I was lying, would I be helping you now?" objects Cheshire cat

"How do I know you're helping me?" says Alice looking around her, as if trying to work out the best way to go,

"Only one way to find out!" says the Cheshire cat before disappearing for the final time, leaving Alice left standing unsure which way to go, after a few seconds of standing staring around her, Alice decides to head in the direction the Cheshire Cat originally said, although by the time she nears the end of the path, she realises she's been tricked again as in front of her is a large dinning table filled with cakes, bread, teacups and saucers on top, with the door mouse sleeping soundly, while The Mad Hatter and The March Hare sit at the table drinking tea, before she can turn around and walk away The Hatter spots her

"Ah Alice! Please join us for tea" he calls waving at her crazily

"That damn cat! I'm guessing from the hat he's The Mad Hatter! A coffee round about now sounds good, but I don't want anything from someone who's name is 'Mad' How am I going to get away from them I wonder" she thinks to herself as she slowly walks towards to the table

"How do you know my name sir?" she asks although she can already guess why

"Because every other girl was called 'Alice'" he replies

"How many other Alices' have they been?" she asks horrified, The Mad Hatter seems shocked and speechless by the question and so in an effort to distract her The March Hare says to her

"Have some wine!" causing Alice to quickly scan the table

"I can be doing with a drink after today" she thinks

"Oh I don't see any on the table" she says disappointed still slightly scanning the table in case she's just missed it

"There isn't any!" says Hare laughing menacingly

"Well it wasn't very nice of you to offer it then!" snaps Alice.

"What do you want anyway?" says The Hatter sharply

"Well you called me over! Since you asked though – I would like to get out of here!" she snaps back.

Hatter and Hare look at each other confused for a second then Hare shouts "NO! NO! NO! That's wrong, you aren't supposed to say that!"

"That's true Hare, my friend!" says The Hatter looking at the slightly sinister look in his eye,

"You! Alice are supposed to firstly - be happy to be here with us, then enjoy my song "Auntie's wooden leg" then listen to us ramble on. Have I forgotten anything Hare?" he says looking at him

"I don't think you have Hatter" says Hare thinking for a second, but before Hatter can say anything he shouts in realization

"Your watch Hattie! You forgot your watch – she is supposed to spot your watch and then you go on to tell her how it's different from every other watch"

"Oh yes my watch. It tells the date and month, but not the time!" says The Hatter a little smug, expecting Alice to be impressed and intrigued, which she is a little, but she's just more tired and annoyed and just wants to go home

"It does what?...Actually I don't care. I don't care about your watch, your songs, your stories – nothing! I. Just. Want. Out. Of. Here!" shouts Alice standing up and storming away.

"I never got to say my I want a clean cup line" says an upset Hatter looking at Hare in disbelieve.

After walking so fast she almost started running, she only stops when she's stopped in her tracks by a large white door that doesn't seems to be attached to anything just standing upright in the middle of the forest "What the? Where did that come from?" she thinks walking round it, she stops stares at again for a few seconds longer, although she'd just walked around it and saw there was nothing on the other side – she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to open the door, putting her hand on the cold metal handle and slowly opens it, she gets the shock of her life, as in front of her isn't the rest of the forest as thought, but the garden she saw when she first looked through the tiny door, "It's obviously part of that damn rabbit's game, that I end up in this garden now!Against my better judgement I guess I must go through here, if it's going to get me out of this hell!" she thinks to herself before stepping through the door. The beauty of her new surrounds instantly hits and intrigues her, she walks around taking in as much as she can, until she spots three gardeners dressed as playing cards frantically painting white roses red "Excuse me, but why are yous painting the roses?" she asks confused

"We're trying to put things right, before the Queen arrives" says the first Gardener

"You see these roses should've been red not white, and now we must paint them red before the Queen sees it" says the very nervous second Gardener

"An easy mistake to make!" adds the third Gardener, causing the four of them to nod in agreement.

"Wait did you say the Queen is coming to visit?" Alice asks after just realising what was said

"Visit? Oh no. She lives here!" says the first Gardener without looking at her as he's concentrating on painting,

"And if she sees this we'll be for the chop!" says the third Gardener making a sawing motion across his neck with his hand,

"Surely she wouldn't behead yous for something so silly?" Alice asks horrified

"She's beheaded for less miss" he replies taking a few seconds to think about the one's they've lost to the Queen's executioner, suddenly the second Gardener starts shouting

"She's coming quick the Queen is coming!" the three men start panicking and as the Queen of Hearts comes into view the three men drop to their knees and start bowing frantically, not once stopping for even a second. The Queen's parade comes along the path and stops directly in front of them, the Queen looks spots the half painted roses behind them,

"Stop bowing you idiots!" she bellows causing the gardeners to freeze kneeling on the ground, she then turns and looks at Alice for a few seconds

"Who are you?" she asks sharply,

"I'm... Alice... your majesty, it's very nice to meet you" a very intimidated struggles to say while trying to curtsy,

"Yes well... why are you here?" she says looking down on her disapproving

"I'm lost, I don't know how I got here or how to get out. I was hoping you'd have a phone I could use?" replies Alice in her most politest voice, while the all the courtiers looks at her in horror and silence causing her to feel slightly uncomfortable, after a few seconds the King of Hearts steps forwards and says

"Little girl what is a phone?"

Alice finally decides enough is enough and can't hold her temper or decorum any more and begins to scream

"AARGH! Does no one in this crazy, stupid, God awful place know what a phone is?" she screams with all her might, leaving everyone looking at her in shock. After a minute of complete silence Frederick Rabbit steps forward in front of the Queen and bows a few times then says "Your highness this is _the_ Alice who refused to stick to the rules and who just ignored the Tweedles all together!". Alice can do nothing but look on in shock, as there is a chorus of "OOo's" from the courtiers, before she can speak in her defence the Queen turns to look at her with sheer anger in her eyes.

"So. You. Are. _That._ Alice?" She says menacingly, she walks over to her and slowly circles around her, making Alice feel very scared indeed

"Y-yes M-ma'am, but like I-I said, I just wanted to get home"

The Queen spots her gardeners kneeling next to the half painted rose bush

"You three go away I'll deal with you later!" they get up and sprint away as fast as they can.

"Now then Alice – do you think it's appropriate to ignore a direct order from the Queen?" she says returning her attention to the Alice. Confused and annoyed – Alice thinks for a second then says "What do you mean 'A direct order from the Queen'? No one told me it was from you! In fact no one told me the rules" A shocked Queen turns and looks at Frederick, who starts to mumble "Oh my furs and whiskers, I am sorry I thought I had. But she was so hostile I had to talk really fast to get a word in!"

"HOSTILE!" screams Alice

"I was not hostile , I merely asked for help, a simple request that everyone I've come across ignored!" says a defensive and horrified Alice

"Also why did the Cheshire cat tell me this was all a game – what type of game could this possibly be?" she sharply adds

"Well it was a game to see if you were worthy of remaining here, in the royal palace as my courtier" says the Queen, looking around her gardens almost bursting with pride, a slightly less than impressed scans her surroundings

"Why would I wanna do that - I mean what's so special about here?" she says, while everyone looks on in horror. The King and Queen look at each other struck dumb with outrage for a while, then the Queen (trying to keep some decorum) simply says

"Because my dear child, everyone wants to live here – no pain, no illness and in a sense – no death – it's just perfect!" replies the Queen. Silence fills the garden as all eyes are on Alice, a few minutes pass before she speaks

"It is not! It's hell here and yous are all crazy! What do you mean - No death? What yous are all immortal?"

"Just point to the exit, so I can go home?" she says looking for one

"Oh I'm afraid we can't do that Alice – for you have broken the rules and the punishment for that – is death!" adds the King of Hearts with a menacing laugh

"Rules? What rules? How can I break the rules if I don't know them?" a panicked Alice asks

"You were told when you awoke in the _room of curtains,_ by Frederick Rabbit that all you had to do was stick to the script – do what you were told – when you are told too. To which you replied 'Like hell I will!'" says the Queen of Hearts

"Yes I did say that, but Frederick never once said that these were 'rules to a game' and he never told me what the 'game'..." pleads Alice

"THERE'S TOO MUCH TALK AND NOT ENOUGH ACTION AROUND HERE! NOW OFF WITH HER HEAD!" screams the Queen so loud that everyone covers their ears until she's stopped

"Wait! There's something yous have to understand – I've been in a very serious accident..." the crowd gasps in horror

"... You see I was knocked down by a car, I think I might need a hospital (although I feel fine – she thinks)" she continues to plead

"LIES! There's no such thing as 'Cars!'" shouts the King of Hearts interrupting her, but before Alice can speak he continues speaking just lower in tone

"Now then Alice, as you already know for ignoring an order from the Queen, the punishment is death. Unless-"

"U-unless what?" snaps Alice

"Unless you are willing to spend at least ten minutes locked in a cage with the Jabberwokkie?" says the Queen of Hearts

The King of Hearts gives an evils grin and nods in agreement, while the courtiers all cover their mouths with their hands in excited shock

"So choose little girl" says Frederick Rabbit jumping up and down with excitement

"W-wait w-what's a J-Jabberwokkie?" is all Alice can force out of her mouth, as the King and Queen and all their courtiers just stand and laughing

"Either way I'm dead – aren't I?" she asks tears filling her eyes

Everyone continues laugh.

Panicking more than ever now, Alice decides it's now or never and sprints off looking for an exit.

"SIEZE HER! OFF WITH HER HEAD!" screams the Queen, stomping her feet like a child having a tantrum. As everyone frantically runs after her

Alice continues sprinting until she can no longer stand up, it's then that she discovers that she's ran into a maze.

"A maze? These people will stop at nothing to keep a person in!" she thinks

"If I go in too far, I'll get too lost to find my way back, so I'll just have to hide close to the exit and pray they don't look too closely" she continues, she hides only a few right turns away from the exit in a dead end. As she's crouching in her hiding spot, she hears people running past and she as she's frozen in place, trying not to even breath loudly so as not to give away her position, as she listens intensely trying to picture in her head which way they are heading, she realises to horror that they are heading her way. Knowing she has no way to pass them by running back, she decides her only means of escape is to climb over the hedge. She frantically starts to climb, but is shocked to to realise that the hedge is slowly rising higher with every step she climbs. She can feel her blood run cold with fear when she hears laughter coming from directly behind her and realises she's been found.

"You do realise you can't climb over that – don't you?" says Frederick in a sinister voice

"I had figured that out – yes. I can climb out of your reach though" Alice bites back, climbing up more as she speaks.

"Oh you silly girl you don't get it – do you?" Alice looks at him in confusion, she can only look on as Frederick simply stamps his foot and gestures downward with his hands and the hedge magically starts to head back to the ground.

When the hedge is almost at ground level

"Grab her!" he shouts, as she comes into reach, causing the couriers to rush forward and Alice to try and climb higher to no avail, as she feels pressure on her ankles and she feels herself being pulled downwards

"N-NOOOO! LET ME GO! STOP! PLEASE!" she shouts, she doesn't once stop shouting as she's dragged kicking and screaming to the palace gardens, where the executioner has already set up his chopping board, and is in the process of sharpening his axe.

"Ah Alice you're back. How nice!" says the Queen of Hearts sarcastically

"Please don't do this I beg you. I-I've changed my mind – I-I'd like to stay here after all" pleads Alice in desperation

"Oh that is not an option any more for you are very disobedient, you can't even follow simple rules" say the King looking at his wife with an evil grin

"This is ridiculous – you can't murder me for wanting to go home?"

"We don't commit murder here!" laughs the King

"What do call beheading someone? B-Because this is cold b-blooded m-murder" cries Alice

"There's too much talk and not enough action around here! Behead first. Talk second!" screams the Queen, leaving everyone confused at such a comment

"Of. Course. Dear" says the King unsure of what else to say.

"Over to you executioner" he adds

"NOOOOOO!" comes a blood curling scream from Alice as she restrained on the chopping board

"Don't worry little girl, you won't feel a thing" smirks the executioner as he swings his axe above his head, as it comes crashing down onto her neck, Alice's screaming turns into flashes of light, screeching and bleeping noises and her name being called over and over again.

She finally opens her eyes to find herself lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by machines and her parents

"Oh my God Alice – Alice y-you're awake!" she shouts standing up from the chair she was sitting on, so that she can see her better and be closer to her.

"NURSE! NNNUURSE!" she screams.

"M-mum?" Alice croaks

"Where am I?" she continues trying to sit up, just as the nurse comes running into the room

"OMG Alice don't try to sit up, you are hooked up to some machines." she says helping her lye back down.

"Your in the hospital dear – you were hit by a car do you remember?" asks her relieved mum

"Where'd the White Rabbit, King and Queen of Hearts and everyone else go?" How did I survive being beheaded?" she asks her eyes frantically scanning her surroundings in confusion

"The K-King and Q-Queen of Hearts? White Rabbit? Honey you've been in coma for 3 weeks. They was no King or Queen or White Rabbit for that matter" says her concerned and freaked out mother, who looks at the nurse for an answer. The quick thinking dumbfounded nurse says

"It's not uncommon for some patients to wake up from a coma, claiming to have gone somewhere that felt so real in every way . There should be no lasting effects from this but, as she fully comes round and as she heals, we will investigate her closely for any lasting signs of this." trying not to sound just as freaked out before making an excuse and leaving .

"Are you in any pain honey?" her mother asks

"I-I-I don't think so mum" replies Alice

A few minutes of silence pass between them before

"Mum, It was so real – Wonderland, and everyone there and their evil game, which had no obvious rules although I was told repeatedly to stick to them. I kept trying to get home and for that I was beheaded" she says beginning to sob

"I know it was scary but, none of it was real honey. You've been here all this time, in a coma so that your injuries can heal" says her mother reassuringly holding her hand tightly in an effort to comfort her as she can't hug her just now. A very relieved Alice grips her hand tightly back, glad to be back home.


End file.
